Cape Breton man recounts close call after car crashed into his home

WHITNEY PIER, N.S. -

A Cape Breton man is counting his blessings after a car smashed through the front of his home in Whitney Pier, N.S., Monday morning.

Harold Legge says he and his wife were in the kitchen when a car crashed through the front of their home and into a bedroom, just metres from where they were standing. 

"Well, a car came off of Connaught Street behind me," Legge said. “Lost control and drove right through the front of my door into my bedroom."

Legge said just moments before the crash, his wife was in bed.

On Thursday, there were still tire marks in the bedroom where the couple sleeps.

"It's kind of emotional for me, realizing how close it was to my wife getting hurt," Legge said.

In July 2014, a similar incident happened at the home next door, causing that house to be torn down.

The homeowners, at the time, told a similar story about how they were nearly hit.

"We could have lost, not only one of our lives, but the three of us”, Carol Crawley told CTV Atlantic in 2014. “Like, if I wasn't on the loveseat and I was on the chesterfield, I could have been dead."

Legge, who is a retired trades worker, was able to have temporary repairs made to his home.

He and his wife have been able to stay there and he figures the house will be salvaged.

However, he plans to take further steps to protect his property.

"[The] next step is to find out exactly where the property line is and put up barricades," Legge said.

Cape Breton Regional Police (CBRM) says the 28-year-old man driving the vehicle was arrested at the scene and charged with impaired driving.

Legge says the fact this happened twice means more needs to be done.

"I invite the CBRM police - anytime they want, 24/7 - to come down and park on one side of my house or the other side, or even park in my backyard, and set up a radar gun," Legge said.

Police say the driver was released and is due in court at a later date.